SAM Allardyce is aiming to land an FA Cup knockout blow squarely on the jaw of the man who helped to make him the success he is today.

SAM Allardyce is aiming to land an FA Cup knockout blow squarely on the jaw of the man who helped to make him the success he is today.

He takes his Bolton side to Brian Talbot's Oldham on Sunday for a fourth-round tie between clubs managed by two of the game's great survivors.

They go back a long way together as playing rivals and PFA officials but the one thing that will glue them together forever is that fateful day in 1991 when a Tim Buzaglo hat-trick gave part-time Woking a famous FA Cup win at West Brom.

Talbot was the Albion manager and Allardyce his newly-appointed assistant after joining the club as reserve team coach.

Both of them were sacked, Allardyce walking despite Talbot's insistence to the West Brom board that his No 2 hadn't been there long enough to share the blame.

Allardyce said: "Brian and I played against each other for quite a while and we also had contact through him being chairman of the PFA while I was a club delegate.

Management

"We went on management courses and coaching seminars together and he offered me my first full-time coaching appointment with West Brom.

"It didn't work out how I imagined. Brian didn't think I needed to be sacked as well, but the board did.

"We were on a hiding to nothing as two young men trying to make their way in the game. But the expectation of the club wasn't matched by their funds.

"It meant some very difficult times for us both. I had to cope with life without any real substance or credibility as a coach.

"I finished up as player-manager of Limerick and Brian went to Malta in order to stay in the game so we have both come up the hard way."

He stressed how hard the parting of the ways with Talbot had hit him when he added: "I was 33 and didn't feel capable of playing league football at that stage because of the mental anxiety of being sacked for the first time in my life.

"I found myself in the wilderness for a few months and both Brian and myself could have been lost to the game. But we have both worked our way back, we are still here and the long haul has been worth it."

All Allardyce wants now is to stop his old friend achieving a Woking style result on Sunday - and he's well aware of what they did to Manchester City in the last round.